Sunday, March 17, 2013

Series Thoughts
The Spartans left it all on the ice this weekend, after a grueling trip and a stunning game 1 victory. It might not have been the ending they wanted, but it was a great step in the right direction for the program. This marks the last time MSU will play in the CCHA, as the next game will be part of the newly formed Big Ten conference.

MSU played very well this weekend, and earned that 3-0 victory in game 1. Miami came back and played much better on the second night, even despite MSU scoring early on in the game, and they showed why they are the CCHA champions. Still, the Spartans responded with a great effort on Sunday, a bad bounce led to the first goal, and Miami built a 2-0 lead, but the Spartans still did roll over. They continued to battle, even as Yanakeff came out to play in the 2nd period. The Spartans got a few power play opportunities and eventually got one in to pull within one. It would stay that way until about halfway through the third period when Miami finally got their breathing room back. After that the Spartans still tried to chip away, but Miami added an empty net goal to finish the scoring off.

Miami will continue to the CCHA semi-finals against Michigan next Saturday. Notre Dame will play Ohio State (funny for how much the Big Ten got knocked, but 4 of the 6 teams are still playing in their respective conference tournaments).

We'll have more thoughts as the off season continues, including a recap of the season, a look ahead to the Big Ten - though right now some time off to reflect seems appropriate. The underdog might not have won this weekend, but they showed the program is heading in the right direction.

Friday, March 15, 2013

Haven't won a playoff game since 2008. Check.
Haven't won a playoff series since 2007. Check.
Haven't beaten Miami in 7 games. Check.
Went to Alaska in 2 of their past 3 weekends. Check.
Didn't get back to East Lansing till late Monday after a difficult 3 game series. Check.
Had very limited practice time this week due to the schedule. Check.
Only won three road games all regular season. Check.

I will freely admit that I wasn't sure MSU had it in them this weekend to win a game. I will gladly eat crow tonight. The underdogs right now are very much alive. The Spartans went down to Miami and stunned the #1 seeded and #3 nationally ranked Miami Red Hawks 3-0. Jake Hildebrand stopped all 34 shots he faced for his second career shutout. Matt Deblouw and Matt Berry put Michigan State up 2-0 to stun the home crowd, and the defense and goaltending did the rest. Kevin Walrod would add an empty net goal with 56 seconds to go to finish the scoring.

This victory gave Michigan State its third road victory of the post season. They had three post season victories all season. It was actually a road warrior night as Michigan (over Western) and Ferris State (over Ohio State) also recorded road wins. Notre Dame was the only home team to hold serve, and they needed overtime to get the job done against Bowling Green.

This team continues to amaze in the post season. They really are showing what you can do with a second chance. But, they cannot be satisfied yet. They aren't to Joe Louis Arena yet, and you know Miami is going to kick it up a notch or ten tomorrow (and Sunday if need be).

Thursday, March 14, 2013

The Michigan State Spartans have been playing better hockey over the last month, and they were finally rewarded with a road series victory in Alaska. Their reward for that success was a very short week of practice and a road series at the CCHA Champion Miami Red Hawks.

Some reward eh?

The Spartans enter the weekend with a 13-23-3 overall record. Since the loss on February 8th at Bowling Green, Michigan State is 6-4. Miami enters the weekend with a 22-9-5 overall record, #3 overall ranking, and in position to potentially get a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament. Miami last played on March 1st and 2nd in a weekend split against Ohio State. That split earned Miami the final CCHA championship. I'm sure they'd like nothing more than to win the last Mason Cup as well, knocking out at least one Big Ten foe along the way.

Michigan State leads the all-time series 68-32-6 and that includes a 28-14-3 record in Miami. The problem is Miami has dominated the series of late going 6-0-1 over the last 7 games. This includes a 2 game play-off sweep in last year's CCHA quarterfinals and taking five of six points this year in the season series. Michigan State tied Miami in Oxford 2-2 in the first game this year, and Miami won the second game 2-0. Miami won the shoot-out on Friday as well.

This was one of those series last season that quite a few MSU fans thought the Red Hawks simply presented a bad match-up for Michigan State. Well, they may have been right since Miami dominated the play-off series.

Given the very short week of prep work MSU had, the odds certainly are stacked up against Michigan State. Last weekend we mentioned how the playoffs present an opportunity for a second chance, to remake your ending if your season didn't go according to plan. Michigan State still has that opportunity this weekend to rewrite their ending. Whether they win or lose, you know they are going to lay their heart on the line and give it their best shot. With Yanakeff and Hildebrand, if both goalies are sharp this weekend, the Spartans will be in the game. It's going to be important to stick around, be pesky, and make them earn everything.

They have nothing to lose at this point, and Bowling Green did it last year from the #11 spot. This Spartan team can do it too.

Miami is the clear favorite in this one. There aren't going to be many people, if any outside of East Lansing, that will pick MSU to win this series or even a game in this series. The poll on the right hand side seems to show some confident (or crazy) Spartan fans. But this is why you play the game. No one gave Bowling Green a chance to do it last year. There weren't many people that gave MSU a chance last weekend. Legs are going to be a concern this weekend, which is going to make the start very important. If the Spartans score early, it certainly will give them a lot of confidence, and that pesky underdog can go to work again. In any case, the Spartans simply need to work hard for 60 minutes in each game, and if needed, let the goaltending take over. Then who knows what that pesky underdog is capable of doing. Anything is possible, and it's why games are won on the ice and not on paper.

Friday's game is scheduled to start at 7:35 pm. Saturday and if needed Sunday's game is scheduled at 7:05 pm. All the games can be heard on 730 am or the Spartan Sports Network

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

The Michigan State Spartans head down to southern Ohio this weekend to take on the CCHA Champion Miami Red Hawks in the CCHA Quarterfinal best of three series. This won't be the first time the teams have met in the play-offs, as they met as recently as last year. Here is a quick look at their playoff history:

The two teams first met in the playoffs all the way back in 1985. It was the final year of a three round tournament format, in which the first round was total goals, and the last two rounds were single elimination. 1986 saw the best of three format introduced in the first round.
The Spartans squeaked out a 4-3 victory on the first night, but the team that most MSU fans will say was the greatest team to ever play in East Lansing ended up dominating the second night 7-1 for a total goal series win 11-4.

Sadly the 1985 season did not end the way pretty much every Spartan fan expected. Providence came into Munn and stunned the Spartans with a 6-5 total goal series victory.

Michigan State pushed its playoff record against Miami to 3-0 with an 8-5 victory in the 3rd place game at Joe Louis Arena. Michigan State would transform a late season charge into a Frozen Four appearance that ended in the Frozen Four with a 4-2 loss to CCHA rival LSSU.

Michigan State and Miami met in the semi-finals, and the Spartans topped the Red Hawks in a 4-3 overtime thriller. The Spartans would move on to lose to arch-rival Michigan in the CCHA championship game.

The Spartans dominated the game early on building a 6-0 lead before Miami could finally get one past Ryan Miller. Miami did end up scoring the last two goals of the game, but it wasn't enough to really make the Spartans worry. Michigan State's power play was key going 3 for 5 in the game.

Miami played better, but it wasn't enough as the Spartans broke the game open late in the first period. Andrew Hutchinson scored a backbreaking goal at the 19:59 mark to give Michigan State a 3-1 lead, and with Ryan Miller in net, that was more than enough for the Spartans. Michigan State eventually won 5-1 to sweep the series and push their playoff record against Miami to 6-0 all-time.

The Spartans would go on to dominate the tournament in Detroit beating Notre Dame 4-0 and UNO 6-0 to win the tournament championship. Boston College would beat the Spartans in the NCAA tournament to end Michigan State's season.

Michigan State's Chad Hontvet tallied a pair of power play goals in the second period to rally Michigan State past Miami. Michigan State fell behind 1-0 on a power play goal by Nathan Davis, but the two goals in the middle stanza proved to be the difference as MSU won 2-1. Dominic Vicari made 25 saves for MSU.

Trailing 4-2 in the 3rd period with just over 7 minutes to go, it looked like game three was going to be necessary, and it looked like Miami was going to earn its first playoff win over Michigan State. The Spartans had other ideas as Tom Goebel and Colton Fretter tallied goals just 1:29 apart to force overtime. Then 7:45 into the extra session, Colton Fretter scored again on the power play to give Michigan State a thrilling 5-4 overtime win.

Michigan State would go on and beat UNO in the quarterfinals before dropping a semi-final game against Ohio State and the consolation game against Alaska.

Michigan State continued its playoff dominance (now at 9-0) over Miami with a hard fought and spirited 2-1 victory over Miami to win the Mason Cup and CCHA Tournament. This marks the last time Michigan State won the tournament, and it allowed MSU to earn a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament. The Spartans didn't get to the Frozen Four though as Maine edged MSU in the regional championship game of the NCAA tournament.David Booth scored the game winning goal in this game at the 5:52 mark of the second period. Jeff Lerg made 22 saves in the win.

Miami finally earned its first playoff victory against Michigan State, and they did so in dominating fashion. It only took 12 seconds for the Spartans to get on the board, but the first period ended 1-0. Miami then used a four goal outburst in the second period to make the game not-so-close. Miami would go on to win 6-0. This was the first post season game for Coach Tom Anastos as the head coach of Michigan State.

Miami finished off Michigan State pretty quickly with a 4-1 win in game two. The Spartans hung tougher in the first period coming out of it tied at 1 (Krug with the goal). However, the second period doomed the Spartans again with three goals less the four minutes apart. Michigan State's season would end two weeks later in the NCAA tournament - its first tournament bid since 2008.

Monday, March 11, 2013

It was not suppose to work this way. Michigan State had a terrible year. They only won three games on the road all year. They never won two games in a single weekend all year. They just made this trip two weeks ago, so they had to be tired. Players were getting sick with the flu on the way out there, and other players were nursing injuries.

They didn't stand a chance.

So, Yanakeff stole game one. Michigan State was "badly" out-shot. Did you see game 2? Alaska dominated. So game 3 was all over - Michigan State had no legs left, and they got their one shot in on Friday. Alaska even started the game with two power plays and eventually got a 1-0 lead. Blowout city here we come, population: Michigan State.

And then..... It happened.

Now, I can't sit here and pretend that Michigan State went on the road and defeated the #1 team in the country in a playoff series, or won a league championship, but this series meant something. For everything that has happened this year, the fact that these Spartans found a way to pull it and hold it together long enough for a weekend - to win at a place that isn't easy to win even before you factor in the travel. Then you throw in the fact that Michigan State fell behind 1-0 and then nearly blew a 4-1 lead. There were plenty of times for this team to fold, but they didn't. They stood tall, stayed strong, and found a way. As good teams tend to do - find a way to win.

Game one was Michigan State's first CCHA post season victory since game 1 of the 2008 CCHA quarterfinals against Northern Michigan. This series was Michigan State's first series victory since a two game sweep over Nebraska Omaha in 2007. That was so long ago, UNO was actually part of the CCHA.

Simply put, for this team and this coaching staff to find the motivation and determination to win this series really speaks volumes of the program. It was a program win. This team might not advance to Joe Louis Arena. After all, Michigan State has a seven game winless streak against Miami. Miami earned five of six points this year in the season series against MSU, and they swept Michigan State last year in the CCHA play-offs. Plus, the Spartans didn't get back into East Lansing until Monday night, which limits the amount of prep time the staff can do on the ice with the players.

After a rough season - even by the kindest of terms - the Spartans finally got rewarded for their efforts. It shows that the foundation is there for the future. Yes, it's still up to the staff to recruit, the players to improve in the off-season, and everyone to put it together once October rolls around. We can't pretend that it'll mean next year everything will be ok, but if the Spartans move back to where they are used to be - near or at the top of the standings, a Frozen Four threat, and a national title contender - it will be this team that we can point to that laid the foundation, that played with its heart, and showed everyone this program won't roll over - even if there are many opportunities and no one would have blamed them for getting their season over with. And maybe, just maybe, deep in the wilderness of Fairbanks, Alaska - the program was reborn under this coaching staff.

The effort against Miami, a team that everyone is going to pick to win, will certainly continue to show everyone just what the program is capable of doing. The odds are certainly stacked up against Michigan State once again.Just like they were this weekend. And then a funny thing happened. The underdog forgot that it was an underdog. And the underdog is still fighting. I imagine they'll be fighting right till the end, and I think they wouldn't have it any other way right now.

And considering the last time the team won a CCHA Playoff series was 2007 - the last time MSU won the national title - no pressure guys. No really. Just take it one game at a time.

For the second straight year, the #11 seed in the CCHA playoffs went on the road and defeated the #6 seed in three games. This time, Michigan State went to Alaska to do the job. The Spartans win their first CCHA series since knocking off UNO in 2007.

With their season on the line, the Nanooks came away with an impressive 4-1 victory on Saturday night in the 2nd game of the first round CCHA series. The Spartans actually did get more rubber on goal (33 shots compared to 15 in the 2-1 overtime victory), but it didn't translate into more goals.

The glaring stat is the power play. Michigan State went 0 for 9 on Saturday, and this followed an 0 for 3 effort on Saturday. If Michigan State doesn't win this series, they could simply point to the power play, which actually has given up a shorthanded goal. Alaska's power play hasn't been much better, but they finally scored with the extra man last night in the 3rd period. Alaska went 1 for 5 last night and is now only 1 for 10.

Will Yanakeff made 31 saves last night.

Game 3 is tonight at 11:05 pm. If Alaska wins, the Nanooks will advance to play Western Michigan, Michigan (which swept Northern last night) will play at Notre Dame, and the winner of tonight's 3rd game between LSSU and Bowling Green will play at Miami.

If Michigan State can pull off the upset, the Spartans will move on to Miami, the LSSU-BGSU winner will play at Notre Dame, and Michigan will take on Western Michigan. Ferris State is already in place to play Ohio State next weekend.

NCAA Bubble

Friday's loss to Alaska may prove fatal when it comes to the NCAAs. The Nanooks fell from 15th to 19th in the Pairwise with the loss, and even with the victory last night - they remained in 19th (using the RPI as the tiebreaker in both cases). Right now only Miami is safely in the NCAA tournament from the CCHA. Western Michigan is in a tie for 10th and is probably in even with a loss next weekend. Notre Dame looks like it needs to win next weekend, as they sit in a tie for 16th. Ohio State is looking like they need to win the CCHA tournament as they sit in a tie for 27th. Ferris State is in the same situation sitting in 26th.

Saturday, March 9, 2013

Friday, March 28, 2008: The last time Michigan State won a post season game (a 3-1 win over Colorado College).

Friday, March 14, 2008: The last time Michigan State won a CCHA post season game (a 5-1 win over Northern).

Friday, March 8, 2013: The day MSU exercised all those past playoff ghosts. Michigan State was out-shot 35-15 for the game, but it was the final shot that mattered as Matt DeBlouw sent everyone home early on in the first overtime period as Michigan State defeated Alaska 2-1.

Will Yanakeff was spectacular again tonight making 34 saves on the evening, including plenty of great stops in the 3rd period that kept it a 1-1 game. Tanner Sorenson opened the scoring just 27 seconds into the game - giving MSU an early 1-0 lead.

Alaska would go on to tie the game later in the period.

Now Michigan State is one game away from winning their first CCHA playoff series since 2007. I guess someone forgot to tell them, they are underdogs, and underdogs aren't suppose to win.

The Spartans once again are making the long trip out west, but this time there is a lot more on the line - an entire season. Everything up to this point becomes moot. Everyone is 0-0, and they don't even have to win two straight games to advance - just two out of three.

Of course, they will be fighting recent playoff disappointments. Michigan State has lost ten straight post seasons (CCHA & NCAA) games. Their last CCHA playoff victory came all the way back in 2008 - game 1 of the quarterfinal series with Northern Michigan. The 10 game streak started that year as well after MSU defeated Colorado College in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

Add in the fact that Michigan State has yet to win two games in a single weekend, and Michigan State has only won three road games all season, the odds seem stacked against the Spartans. Despite all this, the people that visit this blog seem confident as over half believe MSU can win the series. And even if Michigan State does win the series, what does that mean? It means they'd head down to Oxford for the quarterfinal series - playing a team that simply has had Michigan State's number of late.

So really, there's no reason to even show up right? MSU can't win. It's just not possible.

Playoffs - The Second Season, A Second Chance

Was it possible for Bowling Green last season, a team that won 5 conference games all year and only 10 games overall (going into the playoffs) to make it to Joe Louis Arena? No, but did it stop them? No. Bowling Green stunned sixth-seeded Northern Michigan in three games, then upset the conference champion Ferris State Bulldogs in three games. Bowling Green then held a 2-0 lead in the CCHA semi-finals before finally losing in double overtime - a dream ending coming up just a little bit short.

Was it possible for the LA Kings to barely make the NHL playoffs as the eighth seed in the Western Conference to win the Stanley Cup? Heck no. It's funny how sometimes the underdog forgets that they are just that - underdogs.

There are examples all over the place - and let's not forget that Michigan State did win one of their three road games in Alaska, and nearly had the second game of the series in overtime. How about the potential with two great goalies keeping the Spartans chances of stealing a road series? Hildebrand and Yanakeff have both shown they can steal a game this year.

While the play will certainly need to be sharp, a win over top 10 Western Michigan had to build up some confidence, and if it takes an 'us against the world' mentality, then so be it - shock the world.

The immediate thought is MSU needs to get more rubber on goal. The Spartans only had 38 shots on goal for the entire weekend - 14 in the 1-0 win and 24 in the 4-2 loss. Yanakeff played very well all weekend keeping Michigan State in the game. The Spartans will need another strong goaltending effort in order to win this series, but it's going to take some help in the offensive end as well.

While Alaska might be the favorite, if the Spartans have their legs going - which won't be easy because of the travel - MSU will be in this series. It's a matter of out-working the Nanooks in front of the goal, in the corners, and limiting the turnovers crossing the blue lines.

Gut feeling says it goes the distance - which will make for a lot of late night listening. All the games are scheduled to start at 11:05 pm Eastern time and can be heard on 1240 am in Lansing or on the Spartan Sports Network. We'll be looking to do a very late night live blog as well.

Monday, March 4, 2013

Michigan State and Alaska will meet each other this weekend for the 11th, 12th, and perhaps 13th time in the post season. The two teams have played 10 games in the play-offs up to this point. This includes four series and a single game at Joe Louis Arena. MSU leads the all-time playoff series 6-4. Michigan State swept two series, won a third series in three games, and Alaska has swept a series, and won the lone Joe Louis Arena playoff meeting.

Here is a look back at each of those series:

March 9-10, 2001 #10 Alaska at #1 Michigan State - CCHA First Round

Michigan State dominated the CCHA in the regular season going 21-4-3 in route to a 10 point championship win over second play Miami and Michigan. The Spartans went on to finish the 2001 season in the Frozen Four losing to North Dakota. This season was the last season that only 10 of the 12 teams made the playoffs. Alaska squeaked in with a 7-14-7 record finishing 1 point higher than 11th place Notre Dame and actually tying Bowling Green for 9th. BGSU had one more win though, so they won the tiebreaker for the 9 seed.

Michigan State dominated the season series sweeping the Nanooks in February of that season by a combined score of 7-1.

The Spartans went 3-5 with the extra man in route to a dominating 5-2 victory over Alaska-Fairbanks in game #1 of the best of 3 first round series. The Spartans jumped out to a 3-1 first period lead on goals by Sean Patchell, Adam Hall, and Brian Maloney. Maloney would add his second goal of the evening early on in the third period, and Rustyn Dolyny rounded out the scoring for Michigan State. The Nanooks would add a late goal as Ryan Miller stopped 32 of 34 shots.

Down 2-1 late in the 3rd period, John Nail tallied a power play marker to force a tie with just 2:42 to go in regulation. Michigan State would use that momentum to end the game in overtime as Sean Patchell added his second goal of the series. Brian Maloney put MSU on the board late in the second period, though the Nanooks took a 2-1 lead into the locker room in the second intermission. MSU out-shot Alaska 19-8 in the 3rd period and 44-33 for the game.

Michigan State would go on to defeat Bowling Green and Michigan to win the CCHA Tournament.

March 14-15, 2003 #9 Alaska at #4 Michigan State - CCHA First Round

The Spartans struggled early on, but they finished strong and ending up in 4th place in the CCHA with a 17-10-1 league record - just one point out of 3rd. Alaska ended up in a tie for 8th place, though with only 10 conference wins, they lost the tiebreaker to Western (13 wins). The Spartans swept the season series winning both games in East Lansing in early January (5-2, 6-2). The Spartan offense was rolling scoring 20 goals over their final four games.

The offense continued rolling right into the first game of the playoffs as the Spartans destroyed Alaska 11-1 to kick-off the post season. This included five goals in the opening period - two by Brock Radunske, one by Kevin Estrada, Ash Goldie, and Colton Fretter. Alaska managed to pull within four goals, but Michigan State's David Booth and Jim Slater would put MSU up 7-1 going into the 3rd. They weren't done then as Brock Radunske got the hat trick just 35 seconds in the final period, and Jim Slater & Ash Goldie added their second goals of the game. Michigan State out-shot Alaska 39-31 for the game, and the Nanooks actually used all three goalies. The Spartans Matt Migliaccio had 30 saves.

This game proved to be much closer, but the Spartans rallied for a 3-1 victory on a strong effort from Matt Migliaccio in goal and goals from Lee Falardeau, Brian Maloney, and Tim Hearon. Migliaccio made 35 saves as the Spartans advance to Joe Louis Arena for a quarterfinal date with Northern Michigan. That game proved to be a wild one as the Wildcats won 7-5 ending Michigan State's NCAA tournament streak in the process.

The Nanooks went to the Joe for the first time ever and finished the tournament winning the 3rd place game over Michigan State. The Spartans ended a disappointing year finishing in 6th place in the CCHA with a 12-13-3 league mark. Despite the regular season, the Spartans found themselves in the CCHA semi-finals dropping the game to Ohio State 4-1. The Spartans couldn't rally from a 2-0 or 3-1 hole in this one, though they did make it interesting losing a 3-2 contest. Tom Goebel and Adam Nightingale scored the goals for MSU. Dominic Vicari ended the game with 23 saves on 26 shots.

In the first season of the current play-off format (1st round byes - in this case for the top 4 teams), the Spartans streak to Joe Louis Arena nearly ended as they were pushed to the brink of elimination by dropping the first game of the series. Michigan State would rebound to the tune of winning the CCHA Tournament and the Ron Mason Cup. It was the last time MSU won the CCHA tournament. The Spartans finished the CCHA season in second place (14-7-7) well behind regular season champion Miami. Alaska finished in a tie for 8th place with Notre Dame.

The Spartans won the regular season series 3-0-1, as they swept the series in East Lansing in January (4-0, 2-1) and won and tied in Alaska in December (4-4, 3-0).

Alaska handed Michigan State its first home loss in ten years by hanging on to defeat MSU 2-1 at Munn. Michigan State's only goal was scored by David Booth with just 38 seconds to go in the second period. The Spartan power play went 1 for 11 on the season, and Jeff Lerg ended the game with 27 saves as MSU out-shot Alaska 37-29 for the game.

The Spartans blew open a close game with four second period goals en route to a 6-1 victory over the Nanooks. Jim McKenzie started the scoring on the power play to give MSU a 1-0 lead. That lead would hold to past the midway point of the game when Chris Mueller put MSU up 2-0. Then less than a minute later, Drew Miller made it 3-0. The Spartans had a pair of 5 on 3 goals late in the period by Tim Crowder and Bryan Lerg. The third period saw a pair of 5 on 3 goals as well - the first by Chris Lawrence and the last one by Alaska's Kyle Jones to spoil the shutout. Michigan State went 4 for 12 with the extra man, and Alaska went 1 for 9. Jeff Lerg ended the game with 30 saves.

A wild third game saw Michigan State beat Alaska 7-4 to advance to the Joe. Alaska actually got on board first just 1:10 into the game. The Spartans tied the game just 30 seconds later on a goal by Chris Mueller. Drew Miller scored the first of three just 70 seconds later to put MSU up 2-1. Michigan State out-shot Alaska 16-7 in the first period and 21-8 in the second period. The middle period saw wildness early as three goals were tallied just 53 seconds apart from each other. Eethan Graham and David Booth tallied goals in that span and Michigan State held a 4-2 lead. Drew Miller added his second goal to give MSU a seemingly comfortable 5-2 lead heading into the final period. Alaska kept battling pulling back to within two on the power play just 23 seconds into the 3rd period. Corey Potter would respond about four minutes later only to see Alaska pull back to within two with 10:02 to go in the game. The scoring would finally settle down until Miller finished it with his hat trick goal just inside 2 minutes to go.

Michigan State would go on to defeat Michigan (4-1) and Miami (2-1) to win the Mason Cup. Michigan State would earn a #1 seed in the NCAA tournament this season only to lose a heart breaker to Maine in the regional final.

March 4-5, 2011 #10 Michigan State at #7 Alaska - CCHA First Round

The Spartans finished the 2010 - 2011 season with an 11-15-2 league mark just 3 points behind Alaska (1 win), and only 2 points behind 8th place (and home ice). That difference would prove to be huge as Michigan State went out west and dropped a pair of very tough games. Michigan State went out to Alaska on the second to last weekend of the regular season and split. The Nanooks took the first game (2-1), and Michigan State responded with a dominating 6-2 victory. The next trip out west wouldn't be quite as friendly though.

Michigan State held two leads (1-0, 2-1) in this game - including one in the third period, but the Nanooks would rally each time eventually winning the game very late in the first overtime. Jake Chelios would put the Spartans up 1-0 in the second period with a power play marker. Michael Quinn for Alaska would pull the Nanooks even with a goal late in the period. Tim Buttery put MSU up in the third period with 11:34 to go. However, just over three minutes later the Nanooks would pull even once again. Then, Nik Yaremchuk would score the game winner with just 20 seconds to go in the first overtime period. Drew Palmisano would stop 34 shots.

The Spartans dropped another heart breaker in Alaska - only this time it took until the second overtime to end the game. Alaska jumped out to a 1-0 lead 7:54 into the game. Dean Chelios and Dustin Gazley would bring MSU the lead heading into the second period. Alaska put a pair of goals on the board to retake the lead, but with just 41 seconds to go Brett Perlini pulled the Spartans even. The third and fourth periods didn't see anyone score, and once again Nik Yaremchuk proved to be the hero as he ended the Spartans' season and the Rick Comley era just 3:18 into the second overtime period. Will Yanakeff made 30 saves. Michigan State's power play was only 1 for 9 in the game.

So there you have it - the complete Alaska-Michigan State CCHA playoff history. Only days remain until the next chapter is written.

2. Notre Dame (Predicted: 3rd). Not bad, and had it not been for MSU, the Irish would have finished 3rd.

3. Western Michigan (Predicted: 1st). Again, not bad. Western was just two points out on the final day of the season.

4. Ohio State (Predicted: 9th). Ouch #2. This one is for my fellow Big Ten blogger - Deadly Nuts. Sorry for not believing in the Buckeyes. Don't screw it up though in the playoffs. And to my credit, I did say that 9th was probably too low.

6. Alaska (Predicted: 10th). Ouch #3. I guess I'm 50/50 at being "close" up to this point. Though, to my credit, I said if they improved in the lower 48, they would be better than my 10th place prediction. They did well in the month of January away from home.

7. Michigan (Predicted: 2nd). As a Spartan, I should have known better than picking Michigan 2nd. Though, they are playing like it now.

8. LSSU (Predicted: 8th). Excuse me for a second....

9. Bowling Green (Predicted: 11th). Yeah - not close enough. Bowling Green was a surprise this year, and they really were playing some strong hockey through the middle of the season.

10. Northern Michigan (Predicted: 7th). Yeah - I can never figure out Northern Michigan. They could be a tough series for Michigan.

11. Michigan State (Predicted: 4th). Big whiffer! Ah well, I gotta be a homer from time to time.

A picture is worth a thousand words. They've had their ups and downs, but the Spartan class of 2013 has represented Michigan State University with nothing but class, and they've worked hard. It's only fitting that an all-senior line tallied the only goal in Michigan State's 1-0 upset victory over #8 Western Michigan. Last place may have been clinched. A trip to Alaska may have been known. But this game meant so much more for the senior class, and their play reflected that meaning on the ice. The Spartans battled hard at both ends of the ice for the victory.

It wasn't without a little drama as Western Michigan got a power play with two minutes to go in the game, only to take a penalty of their own with just inside a minute to go. This was after Western thought they had tied the game - but the goal was waived off with a Bronco practically sitting in Hildebrand's lap.

It was Jake Hildebrand's first collegiate shutout.

On Friday, the Spartans lost 5-2, but it was a closer game than that. Western broke open a 1-1 tie over the final six minutes of the second period scoring three goals. Two of the goals bad breaks happened as a d-man fell down for MSU, and a 5 on 3 marker went in off of a Spartan. Still, Western did look the part of a CCHA contender on Friday, and they played well.

On Saturday though, Michigan State responded.

When the dust settled from the weekend, Michigan State did finish in last place in the CCHA, and they now face the task of heading out to Alaska for a best of three series.

The Ghost Of The Recent Playoff Past

Michigan State will be battling recent history, if you believe that sort of thing. The Spartans haven't made it to Joe Louis Arena for the CCHA tournament since 2007. MSU's last CCHA series victory came in that 2007 playoff season over a team that isn't even in the conference anymore - Nebraska-Omaha.

The last time Michigan State won a post season game in either the CCHA or NCAA tournament happened on March 28, 2008 in the NCAA First Round game against Colorado College. MSU last won a CCHA playoff game that same year on March 14, 2008 - game 1 vs. Northern Michigan in the CCHA quarterfinals. Northern went on to win the next two games to win the series.

You are reading that correctly, MSU has lost ten straight post season games. The Spartans have been outscored 46-17 in that span.

The best way to make history is by shaping it yourself, and this team now has a chance to exercise these demons and get a win, and while they haven't won two games on a single weekend all year, the Spartans don't need to win two in a row since it's a best of three series. It's a long trip, but they did split in Alaska just a weekend ago - so they know they can win. In fact, they had the second game tied 2-2 late before Alaska won it.

Want some good news? Bowling Green made it to Joe Louis Arena last year as the #11 seed. In fact, they held a 2-0 lead over Michigan in the CCHA semis before the Wolverines rallied for an overtime victory. So, it can be done. It's a new season, so let's take it one shift at a time.

Other CCHA Series

Miami won the final CCHA title. Notre Dame moved into second with their weekend sweep over Bowling Green, and Western's split against MSU. Ohio State earned home ice once Michigan forced a shoot-out against Ferris. Ohio State will face Ferris State in the CCHA quarterfinals in the 4-5 match-up. This upcoming weekend, Michigan will host Northern Michigan, and LSSU will host Bowling Green. Michigan is #7 - they last were the #7 seed in the 2010 playoffs when Michigan won the CCHA tournament. Michigan has to win it this year to keep their NCAA streak alive, and they are now unbeaten in four games and 5-2-1 in their last eight.

Michigan hasn't beaten Northern this year losing 4-3 and winning a shoot-out (so it's a tie). But that was up in Marquette and back in November. If I had to pick, I'd be surprised to see Michigan lose that series - though it wouldn't shock me if it went the full three games.

BGSU-LSSU should be a good series. The Falcons did sweep the Lakers this year, but those games were in Bowling Green, and this series is up at the Soo. Again, it wouldn't shock me to see it go three games - and anyone could win. I'll go on a slight limb and take the road team.

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